Biggles Delivers the Goods/plot
Chapter 1: An Unexpected Visitor Biggles is summoned by Air Commodore Raymond to Air Intelligence Headquarters to meet an "old acquaintance". It turns out to be Li Chi, from prewar days and he has an unusual proposal to supply the British government with a vital war commodity, rubber. Chapter 2: Li Chi Outlines His Plan Li Chi explains that he has been smuggling rubber out of the plantations in Malaya in defiance of the Japanese and has built up a stockpile of some 5000 tons at Elephant Island. His friend Major Marling had also amassed a quantity of this vital commodity at his remote estate Shansie in Lower Burma. The British government is interested in it and so Biggles and his 666 Squadron are sent to organise its retrieval. Chapter 3: Sortie to Elephant Island From India, Biggles sets off in a Grumman Gosling to make a reconnaissance of Elephant Island with Li Chi. To his surprise, next to a large lake is a saw mill which Li Chi had taken over and had kept working. This seems to provide pssibilities. Biggles envisages a runway/dispersal made by nailing planks to floating logs. With this runway, land aircraft which could carry heavier loads could be used instead of flying boats. Li Chi is amazed by the ingenuity and simplicity of the solution. Algy and Bertie are sent back to India to fetch nails and paint to build and camouflage the runway. The squadron is also instructed to be prepared to operate Liberator bomber/transports and Lightning fighters as escort. Chapter 4: Ginger Talks a Walk Li Chi introduces Biggles and Ginger to Ayert, his bosun, who brings news that a new Japanese officer, Admiral Tamashoa has been appointed the local commander. He is an arch-enemy of Li Chi from before the war since he had been a pearler in the Mergui and Li Chi had stolen pearls from him. He did not have the best feelings for Biggles either--the pearls Biggles received from Li Chi in The Oriental Touch had originally been Tamashoa's! Ginger takes a walk after lunch and finds spots a man spying from behind some bushes. He tries to apprehend him but he runs away. From the description, Li Chi and Ayert think he is an unreliable former employee Pamboo. Ayert tries to track him but sees him paddling off the island in a boat. Chapter 5: Biggles Makes a Reconnaissance The fact that Pamboo had a boat indicates that he must have been a spy sent by Tamashoa. This was soon proven when a Mitsubishi naval flying boat began to make a photographic reconnaissance of Elephant Island. Biggles' whole mission is now in jeopardy and he begins to consider options and he needs to move quickly. He decides he needs to make a trip to see Major Marling to see how his rubber could be collected, and whether there was a landing ground at his estate. Algy returns with nails and paint and a report that the rest of the squadron was being gathered at Madras with a force of Liberators and Lightnings. Algy departs on another supply run. Meanwhile, Biggles, Li Chi, Ginger and Ayert set off by night for the 60 mile journey up the Pakchan River for Shansie on a native kabang. Chapter 6: Up the River The journey takes the whole night and the next morning. Along the river, the kabang is forced to hide among the reeds when it is overtaken by a motor launch, the Lotus. It has been commandeered by the Japanese and is steaming upriver with some eighteen to twenty Japanese soldiers onboard. Li Chi is worried as it is probably heading for Shansie and so Ayert is dropped off to make his way overland to warn the Major. Nearer to Shansie, Ayert comes back again accompanied by Prince Lalla, Major Marling's son. They have bad news: the Japanese have managed to take Shansie by surprise and had captured the Major. They have tied him to a tree and are about to torture and interrogate him. Chapter 7: War Comes to Shansie The Japanese are not expecting further trouble so Biggles plans a counter-attack which recaptures the estate easily. Chapter 8: Decisions Marling announces his intention to stay on at Shansie despite the risks. He promises to build a landing ground for Biggles to come back to collect the rubber. The Lotus is loaded up with 50 tons of rubber and proceeds back down river. Chapter 9: Ayert Goes Ashore On the journey back, Li Chi picks up signals on the radio. Something is happening, so Ayert is sent ashore to pick up news from Victoria Point. He returns with a worrying report. The traitor Pamboo has told all. He was responsible for the raid on Shansie. And now a ship, the Sumatran has arrived to transport troops for an assault on Elephant Island. Li Chi thinks their show is over but Biggles doesn't share his fatalism: the Sumatran is a godsend. It can move a thousand tons of rubber! And what are Li Chi's pirates good for if not a boarding action? Chapter 10: Preparations Biggles outlines his plan to capture the Sumatran. Algy is sent back on another supply run. Meanwhile Taffy Hughes and Ferocity Ferris arrive in two Lightnings. As night falls, the boarding party set off on their mission. Chapter 11: Ginger Gets a Shock As expected, the boarding action goes through smoothly. "Like old times," says Li Chi. The Sumatran is captured and brought back to Elephant Island. But they pick up a radio message: a Gosling has been found ditched and a Japanese destroyer flotilla has taken a British pilot prisoner and are bringing him to Victoria Point for questioning. Chapter 12: How Algy Ditched the Gosling The story rolls back to Algy's point of view. After landing at Madras and relaying Biggles' orders, he sets off again for Elephant Island with another lot of fuel. On the way, however, he has the misfortune of being spotted by two Zero fighters which came from an aircraft carrier. After evading them for a while, he is shot down. A flotilla of Japanese destroyers pick him up and bring him to Victoria Point. Chapter 13: Algy Meets a Friend--and an Enemy At Victoria Point, Algy is put into a prison cell and meets Major Marling. He tells him that Shansie had been overrun by Japanese paratroops who took the defenders by surprise. They are taken to be questioned Admiral Tamashoa but they refuse to say anything. Tamashoa shows them what he does to those who do not talk; outside the window, Tapil, the son of Melong, Marling's overseer, is being executed. Algy and Marling know their turn would be coming soon. Chapter 14: Enter the Liberators Biggles has little time to dwell on the setback. He orders his squadron's Liberators to start their ferry round trips, carrying fuel to Elephant Island and rubber on the return to Madras. However he also asks for a load of bombs, just in case. Meanwhile, the Sumatran is loaded up and Li Chi sails it out to India. Chapter 15: Shocks for Biggles There are futher setbacks. Back from a patrol, Tug Carrington reports seeing the Sumatran stopped next to a larger--it looked like she had been recaptured. Meanwhile, one of Li Chi's spies on the mainland brings news that Shansie had fallen to another Japanese attack. Marling and Lalla had disappeared. This is confirmed by Ginger who, while chasing a Zero fighter, had gone all the way to Shansie, only to find that the Japanese had turned it into an airbase with large numbers of Zeroes parked there. Chapter 16: Sortie to Shansie The Japanese destroyer flotilla carrying Algy has sailed in, so Biggles decides to execute a plan he had earlier discussed with Li Chi. The destroyers had anchored in the shallow estuary off Victoria Point. A sudden drop in the level of the Pak Chan river would also drop the water level in the estuary which it feeds, causing the ships to run aground, leaving them unable to use their guns and their sailors unable to come ashore. Biggles and Ginger take off in a Liberator armed with bombs to blow the dykes at Shansie, flooding the paddy fields around it and causing the desired drop in the water level of the river. The plan is executed successfully. The destroyers are grounded, and as an added benefit, the fighters parked at Shansie are swept away by the floods from the burst dyke. On their return, they spot Prince Lalla and Melong on a native kabang making for Elephant Island. Chapter 17:The Raid Lalla joins Biggles, the British pilots and 50 of Ayert's best men in a raid on Victoria Point to rescue Algy. They arrive just in time for Algy is just about to be beheaded by a sword, Marling would be next. The raid virtually wipes out the Japanese garrison there but Tamashoa is absent, having gone to a meeting in Penang. Chapter 18: Li Chi Comes Back Returning to Elephant Island, Biggles is surprised to see the Sumatran. But it is good news. Li Chi explains that a British armed merchantman had met him with orders to take over his cargo and proceed directly to England. With his ship now empty, Li Chi had decided to come back for another load of rubber. Biggles is delighted--almost half the Sumatran's two loads would account for half the rubber which needed to be moved. Chapter 19: The Pace Grows Faster The squadron continues moving rubber. Marling and Lalla decide to go back to the mainland to coordinate guerilla warfare against the Japanese. Meanwhile Li Chi picks up and decodes a Japanese signal that 2 transports with almost 2 thousand Japanese troops under the command of Tamashoa are heading for Elephant Island. Biggles asks Raymond for permission to suspend rubber transport operations to attack the transports as well as the stranded destroyers at Victoria Point. The squadron is mystified and upset when Raymond orders them to ignore the threats and continue their cargo operations. Chapter 20: The Storm Breaks For two days the squadron continues airlifting rubber while nervously watching the approaching enemy transports. Biggles believes Raymond won't let them down, although, as Angus wryly observed, he does leave it rather late. The transports are almost in sight when Raymond surprises everyone by arriving and inviting all to watch the "show" from a hilltop on Elephant Island. A large force of 36 B-17 Flying Fortresses obliterate the Japanese destroyers aground at Victoria Point. Next, Johnny Crisp leads is squadron of Beaufighters (carrier-borne for this operation, according to Raymond) to strike at the transports, sinking both in short order. With the immediate threats removed, the squadron completes its missin and returns home. Category:Plot summaries